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From the moment Emi Okazaki woke up, she could tell that today was going to be a good day.
The sun was shining, she didn’t oversleep, and her hair decided to cooperate with her for once in her life. Her tie was tied properly, her uniform was neat, and she was full of energy and ready for anything. Today was her first official day at UA high school, and she was determined to make the best first impression she could. Her parents and siblings had always emphasized the importance of first impressions. Someone’s first impression of her could affect how they saw her for the rest of her life. because of this, she fussed over her appearance for way longer than normal and spent the better part of 15 minutes rehearsing her big sister’s formula for how to make friends.
Making friends is simple. Just introduce yourself, stick out your hand, and ask them something. If they want to be your friend, they’ll shake your hand, simple as that. A simple formula, but an effective one, as her sister put it. most of the other girls at her old school seemed to hate her guts for no apparent reason, so she’d never really had a chance to try it, but this was a new school year with new classmates. This was the fresh start she needed, and she was determined to get it right. Maybe if she did, she could actually make some friends this year.
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Emi left her dorm and skipped through the halls of UA, eager to get to her classroom. As she was walking, she scanned the hallways for any of her classmates, hoping to strike up a friendship with at least one of them before the end of the day. She was having no luck in finding anyone until she spotted a familiar head of fluffy black hair. It was Tsutsui, who Emi remembered as the girl who punched Sasaki on the arm during attendance yesterday. Emi didn’t really know anything about her, but she didn’t see any reason that Tsutsui wouldn’t make for a good friend. So, Emi skipped up to her, and said,
“Tsutsui! Hello Tsutsui!” Tsutsui turned around to face Emi. Emi wasn’t good at reading faces, but she could tell Tsutsui was grumpy. Nevertheless, Emi decided to go through with her plan.
“I’m lonely, are you lonely?” she asked and stuck her hand out in front of Tsutsui, hoping she would shake her hand. Tsutsui looked at her hand for a moment before scowling and walking off in the direction of their classroom. Emi was sad that Tsutsui had left, but she tried to brush it off and continued skipping to class.
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Despite her earlier friendship mishap, the first half of class went surprisingly well. she answered most of the teachers' questions correctly, no one was making any repetitive noises that made her brain hurt, and while a few people gave her weird looks when she flapped her hands in class, no one laughed or said anything, which was a major upgrade from her old school, where the other girls would tease her and laugh at her and the teacher wouldn’t do anything.
Lunchtime rolled around, and most of the other students went to the cafeteria for lunch. Emi stayed in the classroom, but Aizawa didn’t mind because he understood that all the chewing and eating sounds in the cafeteria make her brain feel horrible and itchy. She sat at her desk and proceeded to begin shredding the peel of the tangerine she grabbed earlier. Before she could get to any of the juicy tangerine slices, she noticed that Otomachi hadn’t left the classroom yet. She was clearly on her way out, which meant that this was Emi’s chance to try to earn her friendship. Otomachi was a nice and friendly girl, so there was no harm in trying. Emi got up from her desk, asking,
“Hi Otomachi! Where are you heading?” Otomachi put on her usual friendly smile, and replied,
“I was just heading to the cafeteria for lunch. What do you need?”
“What do you think the clouds are going to look like tomorrow?” Emi stuck her hand out in front of Otomachi. Otomachi’s brows were knitted with confusion, but she replied,
“I don’t really know; I don’t pay attention to the weather.” Before walking off. Emi was disappointed, but she was happy that Otomachi had at least bothered to answer her question. With that, Emi returned to her desk and continued to shred her tangerine peel. She was disappointed at having no one with her, but the sharp taste of citrus was enough to distract her from the fact that she had no one to talk to.
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The rest of her normal classes went as smoothly as her morning classes. Her teachers all liked her for once, unlike at her old school, where they just told her to sit still and wouldn’t stop the other girls from laughing at her. Despite her blunders with making new friends, this school was already worlds better than her old school.
Now it was time for her first heroism class, which Emi was very excited for. She had wanted to be a hero ever since she was a little girl. Her big brother was a hero, and he always helped people and made people happy, so she wanted to be just like him someday! She remembered all the happy times with her brother as she collected everything she would need.
As Emi gathered her things, she realized that right now would be a perfect time to try to make a new friend. She eyed Kiyama, who was also preparing to leave the room. He was a bit shy, but he seemed nice enough, so Emi walked up to him, stuck out her hand, and asked,
“You’re skinny, how much do you weigh?” Kiyama’s face instantly turned red, and he mumbled,
“I’m not really sure. I haven’t really been to a doctor since I was 14… if you don’t count… no that would count, but that’s where… I don’t really know; he would always make sure I was eating right but he’s not here anymore so… I don’t know.” His hands were fiddling with his tie, and he kept his gaze trained to the ground as he walked off, continuing to mutter to himself as he left the room.
Emi thought that maybe the question was a bit too personal, but that didn’t stop the sharp pang of sadness as Kiyama left. With a heavy heart, Emi gathered her stuff and followed the rest of the class out of the room.
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Emi’s earlier prediction of the day could not have been more wrong, as today was turning out to be a very not good day.
Heroism class was good and she liked her new hero costume, but her head hurt from using her quirk too much, and none of her classmates even talked to her. She didn’t even want to try her sister’s method anymore, as it clearly wasn’t working. She made a mental note to scold her sister for giving her lousy advice later. With class over, she trudged back to her classroom, wanting nothing more than to grab the gel pens she left in her desk and then go back to her dorm and drown herself in the snuggly comfort of one of her brother’s old hoodies. They were kind of big, but they still smelled like him, which was nice whenever she got scared that she was forgetting what his smell and his hugs and his… everything was like.
She squeezed back tears as she remembered that he would know exactly what to do. He would know exactly how to make friends. But crying wouldn’t make him any less dead, so she continued on her way to the classroom, letting out only a few sniffles on the way.
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Emi had composed herself by the time she came to the big door of class 1-L. She headed inside to find someone else was still there. It was Furukawa, who was still in his usual seat at the back of the class. He was wearing a black hoodie and a pair of black jeans in place of his uniform. He was also reading a book, and Emi watched as his sharp red eyes scanned the pages.
Screw it! Emi thought to herself. There's no harm in trying one more person! Maybe it will work this time! With the gel pens now forgotten, Emi took a deep breath and walked up to Furukawa. He looked up from his book just as Emi asked
“Is black your favorite color or are you just emo?” and stuck her hand out again. Furukawa looked at her hand, then at her, then at her hand again, as if trying to understand the relationship between her question and her hand.
“What exactly are you hoping to get out of this question?” He asked, looking up intently at Emi.
“This is how you make friends! I want to be your friend!” Emi responded, giving him a toothy grin. Her heart began to sink, but he hadn’t walked away yet, so all hope hadn’t been lost. He continued to look up at her, his eyes squinting as he looked her up and down, scanning every inch of her. After a moment of this, he asked,
“Are you sure? No one really likes being associated with me. I’m no good at talking to people.” Emi was just confused at this point. She was offering to be his friend, and he was questioning her judgement. She clenched her teeth tightly, and half wailed,
“Well, I’m not having much luck with that either at the moment, so do you want to be my friend or not?” She tried not to let much of her frustration show, but it was painfully obvious how desperate she was with the force she put into her words and the way the hand she was holding out in front of her was shaking with how much force she was putting into holding it out. Furukawa’s eyes seemed to soften, and he looked at her hand for another moment before slowly bringing out his own hand. Emi’s eyes widened as he took her hand and shook it. His grip was firm, but not too tight, and he didn’t shake very hard. Emi bit back a squeal of delight.
“Alright then. My name is Desmond Furukawa, and I’ll be your friend.” Emi’s heart was pounding so hard she was certain that she was about to explode.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Emi Okazaki, and I’ll be your friend too!” Desmond smiled, but his smile couldn’t stack up to Emi, who was smiling so hard that her face started to hurt.
She made a mental note to thank her sister a lot for giving her very good advice. It may not have worked the first three times, but it worked the last time, and that was good enough for her.
Today had been a very good day after all. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Emi Okazaki had finally made a friend.